


Through Our Fingers

by linksofmemories



Series: The Rory to My Amy [11]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-15
Updated: 2012-12-15
Packaged: 2017-11-21 05:49:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/594158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/linksofmemories/pseuds/linksofmemories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The emergency phone was just a connection so that they all were informed of any serious things happening in one of their lives. Derek was just really happy that he was the one who picked up the phone and not Stiles when Melissa had called him one Friday afternoon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Through Our Fingers

There was a lot to keep track of these days. Last September, Clara, Jackson and Lydia’s daughter, had been born. In December, Boyd and Erica’s twin daughters, Lizzie and Megan, had been born. That April Scott and Allison’s second son, Jeremy, had been brought into the world. Not to mention Amelia getting the Chicken Pox in January and David getting a cold March.

The adults had their fair share of problems as well. Scott had his first asthma attack in years a few weeks ago, Erica’s new epilepsy medicine had caused some negative reactions, Jackson broke a leg during a lacrosse game, and Danny had had a severe allergic reaction to chicken of all things.

So, one Friday Night Dinner Laura proposed that they all get an emergency cellphone. A lot of them ignored calls no matter who it was from if they were occupied otherwise (and for some reason everyone had looked at Derek and Stiles at that moment), but with an emergency phone they would know that it was actually something important.

Of course some of them had used the phone to their advantage. Scott had called in an “emergency” babysitter for him and Allison to have some alone time, Laura needed someone to run an “emergency” trip to the store to buy chocolate chips for brownies, and Stiles had used it to call Lydia and ask for her advice about what to wear for an “emergency” conference at school. Most of the time it wasn’t anything too severe, but no matter what, they always answered in case something bad actually happened.

Fortunately nothing too bad had happened. Melissa had gotten a bad case of food poisoning that had her close to a bathroom for days and Chris’ office had been broken into, but no one had been hurt. The emergency phone was just a connection so that they all were informed of any serious things happening in one of their lives.

Derek was just really happy that he was the one who picked up the phone and not Stiles when Melissa had called him one Friday afternoon.

**OoOoOoO**

Even during the summer Friday was the golden day of the week. Derek’s office was closed for the weekend, leaving him two days to just relax and not think about driving two hours away to an abandoned hotel Laura had found. Stiles wasn’t teaching during the summer, but he was still working on his master’s and taking summer classes.

So, after finishing up a phone call with the abandoned hotel owner, Derek was able to call it a week. And after turning in his last paper of the summer semester, Stiles was able to go home and be free from schoolwork until Monday when he went into Beacon Hills Elementary to start setting up his classroom.

Derek had just sat down on the back porch, opening up a book Stiles had recommended to him months ago, when the backdoor opened and Stiles stood there, backpack on his shoulders and huge smile on his face.

“Done for the semester!” he announced, shrugging his backpack off of his shoulders and closing the backdoor behind him.

“Congratulations,” Derek said, placing the book on one of the end tables before getting an armful of Stiles in his lap. “How do you want to celebrate?”

“I’ve got some ideas,” Stiles said, wrapping an arm around Derek’s shoulders and leaning into him. “And they definitely involve your reading glasses and not much else.”

Derek let out a low chuckle at that, pressing kisses against Stiles’ neck and slipping a hand under his shirt. “That can be arranged.”

Stiles smiled, that slow and teasing and perfect smile, before bringing their mouths together and moving to straddle Derek. And then it was just smooth, open-mouthed kisses. It was a lazy Friday afternoon and even though everyone would be over later for Friday Night Dinner, they still had time. It had been a while since that had actually taken their time as well. Lately they had just had time for a shared shower in the morning or something quick before going to bed.

But tonight was different. After everyone left after dinner, Derek was going to take his time with Stiles, spreading him open and teasing him until he was a panting, begging mess. He was looking forward to it, but right now was the time for slow, languid kisses.

At least it would be if the emergency phone hadn’t rung.

Stiles groaned into his mouth before turning his head and looking at the emergency cellphone on the end table next to them. They both just looked at it, neither of them wanting to know who broke an arm or who needed a babysitter for the night.

“Rock-Paper-Scissors?” Stiles asked.

“Deal.”

Derek’s rock was beat by Stiles’ paper. He sighed, grabbing the phone as Stiles brought his left hand up to his lips, kissing Derek’s wedding band. Derek shook his head, checking the caller ID to see his mother calling. It was probably a broken bone then since her shift hadn’t ended yet.

“Hey Mom,” he said, leaning back against the chair and trying to ignore Stiles moving the collar of his shirt to the side and kissing along his collarbone.

“Oh, thank God you answered the phone,” Melissa said, her voice shaking.

“What happened?” he asked, gripping the phone tighter in his hand.

“He just came in and- Derek, there’s so much blood, and- and-.”

“Mom, what happened?” he repeated, knowing that his tone had changed drastically judging by the look Stiles was giving him.

“John’s been shot and he’s in critical condition and I don’t know if he’s going to make it.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. There wasn’t anything to say to that. He was aware of his mother’s soft cries from the other line and Stiles’ anxious expression, completely unknowing of what had happened. And he wanted nothing more than to just hang up and tell Stiles that the call had been a mistake and that nothing was wrong and to just keep kissing him and holding him and touching him.

“We’ll be there soon,” he promised and after a quick exchange of goodbyes, he hung up.

“Der, what happened?” Stiles asked, bringing his hands up to cup Derek’s face.

He placed the phone back on the table and looked at Stiles who was looking even more anxious than before.

“What’s going on?” Stiles asked. “Is it one of the kids? Is it Pond? Is she hurt?”

Derek wrapped his arms around Stiles and brought him even closer, nuzzling his face into his neck and inhaling citrus and mint and cinnamon. Stiles moved his arms to Derek’s back, leaning his head against Derek’s.

“Derek, you’re scaring me,” he said.

“I need to promise me that you won’t do anything crazy,” Derek said, moving to press his forehead against Stiles’.

“Okay,” Stiles said slowly.

“Your father was shot and he’s in critical condition and they don’t know if he’s going to be okay.”

And, God, he regretted telling him as soon as the words left his mouth, because Stiles just _broke_. His mouth fell open and his eyes widened and he starting to shake his head, moving away from Derek.

“You’re lying.”

“Stiles, I’m not-.”

“No, you’re lying,” Stiles said, standing up and starting to pace. “There’s no way you’re telling the truth right now.”

“Stiles, we need to go to the hospital and-.”

“No we don’t,” Stiles said. “We don’t need to go to a hospital because you’re mom accidentally called the emergency phone instead of your cellphone to tell you what time everyone is going to be over for dinner tonight. Because it’s Friday night and all of us always have dinner on Friday night in the dining room and my dad is going to be here and everything is going to fine and… and I can’t breathe, and _fuck_ , Derek, I can’t do this. I’ve already lost my mom, I can’t lose my dad. I _refuse_ to lose my dad; he is never going to die-.”

“Hey, calm down,” Derek said, standing up and taking Stiles’ face in his hands. “Calm down. You’re not going to lose him. He’s going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine-.”

“You don’t know that.”

“No, but I can make you believe it,” Derek said. “Even if it’s just for a little while.”

“Derek,” Stiles said, his voice tiny and scared in a way that Derek hadn’t heard in so long. Hadn’t heard since Aria was sick in a hospital bed.

“C’mon,” Derek said, taking Stiles’ hand in his. “Let’s go to the hospital, staying here isn’t going to do any good.”

Stiles nodded, making his way in front of Derek to grab his backpack that he had dropped on the floor. He opened it up, took out a few notebooks and a textbook, before heading back inside. Derek followed him in, locking the backdoor behind him.

“What are you doing?” Derek asked, making his way down the hallway and into the foyer where Stiles was taking the steps up two at a time.

“I’m getting my planner and grade book,” Stiles said, his voice carrying from upstairs. “I don’t know how long we’re going to be there, so I might as well get some work done.”

To say that Derek was surprised was a bit of an understatement. Not five minutes ago Stiles had been beyond distressed and now he was acting like this was business as usual. Derek knew that everyone had their coping methods, but this seemed a little unorthodox.

Stiles made his way back downstairs, shrugging his backpack on his shoulders and tapping on his phone. “Stiles and Allison are going to meet us there; Danny and Isaac are babysitting David and Jeremy. Chris, Laura, and Pond are going to the hospital and Boyd and Erica and the twins are still on vacation with his family. Oh, and Jackson, Lydia, and Clara are coming into town on Monday, so they’ll be here in a few days.”

Derek continued to stare at his husband who was now standing at the foot of the stairs with his hands in his pockets and looking oddly carefree.

“What?” Stiles asked.

“Stiles, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

He shouldn’t push it. Derek knew that he wasn’t acting exactly normal, but he would rather have him acting like this than being an absolute wreck. Derek slowly nodded before heading out the front door with Stiles right behind him. Stiles didn’t propose to drive (something that Derek was hugely grateful for), so Derek opened the garage door and slipped into the front seat of the Camaro with Stiles sitting on the passenger’s side.

The drive to the hospital was completely quiet as Stiles continued to type on his phone. Derek kept sneaking peeks at him throughout the entire car ride, but he seemed fine. This only made him more anxious and by the time they made it to the hospital and to the front desk, Derek was shaking and Stiles had his hands once again shoved into his pockets.

“Thank God you two are here.”

Derek turned to see his mother making her way toward them. She hugged Stiles first, wrapping her arms tightly around him and running a hand through his hair. “Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how he is right now, but I managed to see him and- and- it didn’t look good. I could lie and say that-.”

“It’s fine,” Stiles said, hugging Melissa back before pulling away. “I’ll just be in the waiting room. What floor is he on?”

Melissa pulled back from Stiles and blinked up at him. Her eyes were red and she looked pale and Derek knew she had probably been beside herself just waiting for them to arrive. But Stiles was still acting weirdly tranquil, prompting Melissa to look at Derek with wide eyes.

“The waiting room, Mom,” Derek said, hoping the look he was giving her said that he had no idea what was going on either.

“He’s in ER, first floor,” she said slowly, looking from Derek to Stiles.

“Thanks,” Stiles said, moving away from her and down the hallway where the arrows to the ER waiting room pointed.

Instead of following Stiles, Derek wrapped his arms around Melissa. “How are you holding up?”

“I’ve been better, much better,” she said. “But, Stiles is acting-.”

“I don’t know,” Derek said, pulling away from her. “As soon as I told him what had happened after getting off of the phone, he reacted just like I thought he would. He was so scared and he was panicking and shaking and then he was just fine.”

“I’ve seen a few family members like that when these things happen,” Melissa said. “One minute they’re freaking out and the next they’re fine. But they always freak out again. You need to stay with him.”

“I will,” Derek nodded, giving her one more hug. “And you need to rest. Your shift already ended, didn’t it?”

“It ended right when they brought him in,” she said. “I’ll go take a breather, but if anything happens-.”

“We’ll tell you.”

After another hug and a goodbye, Derek headed toward the ER waiting room. It wasn’t as crowded as he thought it would be, but there were still several clusters of scared friends and family members. A few of Sheriff Stilinski’s deputies were sitting a few chairs down from Stiles, all looking at him oddly.

Stiles was sitting in one of the hard hospital chairs with his feet propped up in another and his laptop on his thighs, his grade book balancing on an armrest and chewing on the end of a pencil. Derek nodded at the deputies before sitting down next to Stiles and taking one of his hands in his.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Fine,” Stiles shrugged, taking his hand from Derek’s and starting to type furiously on his laptop. “There are a few books in my backpack. I didn’t see you bring anything and you already have your glasses on, so go crazy.”

“Thanks,” Derek said slowly, reaching into Stiles’ backpack and grabbing whatever book he grabbed first.

It was _The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes_ and he gave a small smile at Stiles who didn’t notice, still typing on his laptop. Derek sighed, leaning back in the chair and cracking the book open.

He had just opened up to the first page when Scott and Allison came rushing into the waiting room. Scott flung his arms around Stiles as soon as he got close enough.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “Of course you’re not okay, oh my God, Stiles, I’m so sorry, if you need anything, man, I’m here for you and we’re going to stay and…”

Scott continued to ramble, hugging his best friend while Stiles just patted him on the back. Allison went to Derek instead, looking at Scott and Stiles before noticing Stiles’ calm expression and looking at Derek. He just shook his head, patting the seat next to him and reaching into the backpack to grab another book. She took the seat and the book, looking at Scott and Stiles one more time before opening _Sense & Sensibility_.

After a few minutes of Scott clinging to Stiles, he finally let up, looking at his best friend who just shrugged. “Thanks for the concern, buddy.”

“Uh, sure,” Scott said slowly, sitting down in the seat next to Stiles. “Do you need anything?”

“No,” Stiles said, continuing to type on his laptop.

Derek and Allison went back to reading while Scott just sat there, looking at his best friend with confusion. He slumped into his seat before looking at the backpack on the floor. “Any books in there for me?”

Once again Derek reached into the backpack, grabbing whatever book he could find. He took out _The Hobbit_ and tossed it at Scott who caught it.

“I never finished reading this,” Scott said. “I already saw the movies, but you always said that the book was better, didn’t you?”

Scott looked at Stiles, obviously hoping to get a normal reaction out of his friend. Stiles just nodded though, patted a hand on Scott’s shoulder and went back to typing.

Derek wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he had finished “A Scandal in Bohemia” and was halfway through “The Adventure of the Red-Headed League” when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out, wondering if it was Laura (who had called Derek earlier to inform him that they weren’t coming because she didn’t want Amelia to see the Sheriff, who was practically like Amelia’s grandfather, in the condition he was in), when he noticed that it was an e-mail notification. His e-mails weren’t on notifications unless they were from a certain sender and it was from… Stiles.

He glanced over at Stiles who wasn’t typing anymore, just looking at a blank document in Microsoft Word with his arms crossed over his chest. Derek opened the e-mail and started to read the message.

_So, I know that you think that I should be freaking out and crying and having about a hundred panic attacks, but I can’t do that, Derek. I’m freaking out on the inside, I’m going out of my freakin’ mind trying not to think about this, but I can’t not think about this._

_I told my dad to retire when he turned 55 and he laughed and said that he would be fine. I told him to retire every single birthday after that and now he’s shot. He fucking got shot, Derek. He could be dying and I can’t do anything about it. I can’t save him and I can’t make it better and I feel so scared and helpless and I haven’t felt like this since my mom died. Because she was just lying in that bed every day, just wasting away and I couldn’t do anything._

_And now the only thing I can do is sit here. I have no power over whether I become an orphan or not and we haven’t even told him yet. We haven’t even told him that on Monday we’re going to start interviewing surrogates. He has no idea that he’s going to have a grandchild. And I guess that isn’t fair to say, because everyone looks at him like he’s their grandparent. David, Jeremy, Amelia, Clara, Lizzie, and Megan. They all call him “Grandpa” (well, the ones who can talk do) and he loves it and now he could never even meet his biological granddaughter or grandson. He’s never going to even know._

_And how are we supposed to tell our child that? How are we supposed to explain why they only have one grandparent? How are we supposed to say that one grandpa is an asshole who left and one was the best man to ever exist? How are we supposed to explain how one grandma was an incredible mom and artist, but got too sick to live and how the other is so sad and lonely and heartbroken, but used  to be so warm and wonderful?_

_What the hell are we supposed to do? Why the hell do we have to have this as our life? Who decided that any of this was okay? I don’t want to lose my dad, Derek. Because after you he’s the one person I can’t bear to lose and he’s dying and_

The e-mail ended there and Derek looked over to see Stiles sitting up straight in his chair, hands shaking and eyes still trained on the now black screen of his laptop. Derek reached into the backpack, searching around for the small prescription bottle he was looking for. He found it and closed it in a fist before taking Stiles’ laptop and closing it. Scott looked up from his book to glance over at them, but Derek just shook his head and handed him the laptop.

Once the laptop was safely in Scott’s hands, Derek wrapped an arm around Stiles’ shoulders and stood up, Stiles standing up beside him. They headed out of the waiting room and into the hallway where a vending machine was. He bought a water bottle from the machine and handed it to Stiles along with the bottle of Adderall.

“You haven’t eaten anything recently, right?” Derek asked.

“Nope, empty stomach,” Stiles said, looking at the bottle of pills before sighing and opening it. He took one of the blue pills before taking a large gulp of water.

“Anything you need to say that wasn’t in that e-mail?” Derek asked.

“No,” Stiles said, shaking his head. “No, it was all there.”

Stiles leaned against the wall and tilted his head back, closing his eyes. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“You wait,” Derek said, stepping forward and taking Stiles’ face in his hands. “You wait and you hope that everything is going to be okay. Because I can’t lie to you Stiles, I don’t like lying to you and I’m not going to do it. But he might not make it through this. Things might not be okay.

“But if things do turn out to be okay, then you and me and my mom are going to force him to retire so he won’t put you through this again. He’s going to retire respectively and there’s going to be a new sheriff, but everyone is still going to respect him. Because he’s going to meet his grandchild and be there for him or her to grow up.

“So, I don’t know if he’s going to be okay. But if he is okay, we’re going to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.”

Derek took Stiles in his arms then, pressing his lips against his temple and running his hands up and down his back. He noticed Scott a ways away, looking uncertain as to whether he should walk over to them or not. Derek motioned for him to come over.

“So, uh, Allison is going to look for some decent food in the cafeteria,” Scott said.

“Thanks, man,” Stiles said, stepping away from Derek but keeping his hand in his.

“Yeah, so, tonight at dinner I was going to tell you guys this, but well, I guess now is a good time,” Scott said, scratching the back of his neck. “I’m going to quit working for Dr. Deaton and join the police academy.”

Well, this was definitely news to Derek. Scott had tried to take veterinary classes at the community college and then transfer to the city college, but he had dropped out, choosing to just be an assistant at the clinic.

“Really?” Stiles asked.

“Yeah,” Scott nodded. “Isaac is doing really well apprenticing for Deaton, since he’s actually smart enough to become a veterinarian and I just-, I want to help people and I feel like this is the right choice for me. I know that it’s not really the best time to tell you guys this, but I wanted to.”

“Well, that’s awesome,” Stiles said, slapping Scott on the shoulder. “Good for you, man.”

Scott smiled, stepping forward to hug Stiles. There were a few seconds of them hugging before Scott outstretched an arm and pulled Derek in as well.

So, they were all just having an awkward group hug when Allison came rushing down the hallway. “The doctor just talked to me and- are you guys all right?”

“Fine,” Derek said, stepping away quickly from the hug. “Perfectly fine.”

“Uh-huh,” Allison said, looking from Derek to Scott and Stiles who were still hugging. “Well, the doctor talked to me and said that he’s going to make a full recovery. He’s sleeping, but family can see him.”

Derek could see the tension sag out of Stiles’ shoulders. He pulled away from Scott only to bring his arms around Derek. A nurse was standing at the end of the hall, probably not wanting to interrupt.

“We’ll go see him,” Derek said. “Go find my mom and tell her.”

“Okay,” Allison nodded, taking Scott’s arm and dragging him away.

“He’s okay,” Stiles said. “He’s going to be okay.”

“Yeah,” Derek said, walking toward the nurse. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

They followed the nurse to a recovery room and she stopped right outside the door, looking from Stiles to Derek.

“I’m sorry, but only family is allowed inside.”

“He’s my husband,” Stiles said, holding up his left hand to show her his wedding band.

“Oh, I’m sorry, well go ahead,” she said, opening the door. “Take your time and there will be nurses and doctors in and out.”

“Thank you,” Derek said, following Stiles into the room.

Stiles sat down in the chair next to the bed and grabbed his father’s hand, letting out a heavy sigh. “He’s going to be okay.”

Derek stood behind him, placing his hands on his shoulders. It was hard to believe that the Sheriff was going to be okay. He was hooked up to so many machines and he had never seen the man looking as vulnerable as he did. But Stiles was starting to look relieved, clutching onto his father’s hand and refusing to take his eyes off of him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
